Trump Can’t Force the Country to Re-Open. He’ll Have to Actually Do the Work To Quell the Virus

Donald Trump’s peculiar personality defects have never been more apparent than in his confused, blustering response to the ongoing pandemic. His signature combination of aggressive, ignorant mendacity has been particularly catastrophic in response to this once-in-a-century crisis.

Beyond his personal failings, however, when the history of Trump’s response to COVID-19 is written, it will show that he didn’t want to believe the threat was real, didn’t want to do the work to deal with it once the damage became obvious, and then tried to use wishful thinking, magic cures and propaganda to will it out of existence.

But unlike most political issues in America where the conservative propaganda machine has managed to being public opinion and to a certain extent even reality itself to its will, the virus is implacable. It does what it does without regard to what Trump, FoxNews or AM Radio says about it.

But beyond that, even if Trump could wave a magic wand and force the entire government and every shuttered American business to reopen tomorrow, it’s not at all clear that regular people would cooperate. According to a new AP-NORC poll:

[M]any are apprehensive about re-engaging in activities that draw a crowd, like attending movies, concerts, or sporting events, using public transportation, or even going out to bars and restaurants.

People’s post shutdown plans depend on what they did before the outbreak. Overall, 38% say they would attend religious services. But among people who attended services at least once a month before the coronavirusoutbreak, 67% say they would return to their church, synagogue, or mosque if restrictions were lifted. Fifty-two percent of those who ate out at least once a month before the outbreak say they expect to head to a restaurant or bar.

Still, even among those that regularly engaged in activities that draw a crowd, like sporting events, concerts and movies, or using public transportation, fewer than half plan to return to them in the short term once restrictions are lifted.

There’s also the economic psychology to deal with: the tens of millions of Americans who are now either temporarily or permanently laid off from their previous jobs aren’t going to be splurging on cocktails, sporting events or manicures anytime soon. Some of the economic damage was inevitable given the impact of the virus, of course. But a huge amount of the blame for the economic fallout falls on stingy Congressional Republicans who refused to do what so many other countries did in guaranteeing wages and housing protections so that people could maintain a firm financial footing during the months of lockdown.

Most state governors will not recklessly court a second wave of COVID-19 just to temporarily help the president’s re-election prospects, knowing that they will be blamed for the consequences. Even if they do, most regular people won’t be going out to get sick spending limited disposable income.

The only credible way out of this crisis–at least until the distribution of an effective vaccine which likely is still at least a year away–is to do the hard work of testing and contact tracing. Which in turn means admitting the real number of cases and deaths (looking at you, Florida), and moving aggressively to quarantine the sick and those most immediately at risk.

This is the work Trump and his team have most resisted doing as they tried to manage the disease as a media problem rather than a public health problem. They tried to minimize the official number of cases by not testing and then hoping it would go away, fearing a dip in the stock market above all else.

As it turns out, the stock market is doing fine–due largely to the now-unbridgeable gap between Wall Street and Main Street. But regular people are hurting badly, the real economy is teetering on the edge, and no number of executive orders can make the governors do what Trump wants, or force people into the stores and stadiums even if they could.

This administration is going to have to buckle up and do the hard work they’ve been avoiding now for months, or this crisis will continue to spin out of their control all the way through election day and beyond.